Conway Forum Previews $850,000 Fire Truck Purchase and Disputed Driveway Bylaw

WHATELY — May 26, 2026 — Conway's pre-Town Meeting forum surfaces a $700,000 fire truck grant and a sharp dispute over driveway zoning. Fire Chief Chris Herman told roughly two dozen residents that a state grant secured before his tenure will cover $700,000 of an approximately $850,000 pumper truck purchase, with the remaining $150,000 drawn from the town's fire truck stabilization fund — meaning no free cash impact. The sharpest exchange of the night concerned Article 25, a Planning Board-proposed revision to Conway's common driveway bylaw that a longtime resident argued would effectively eliminate affordable lot subdivision by stripping the two-building-lot-by-right provision and replacing it with a costly site plan review process; Conway is, speakers noted, the only Massachusetts municipality that has never adopted subdivision control. Select Board member Chris Waldo disclosed a free cash balance of approximately $894,000, drawing a rebuke from the floor: "That is shocking." The forum also previewed a $230,000 wheel loader purchase under Article 11 and a $14,000 street light conversion to shielded LEDs modeled on Shelburne Falls, with annual operating costs currently around $10,000 and expected to fall sharply after conversion.